Awesome Father,
You revealed Yourself to Moses from the midst of the burning
bush, a revelation given only to him out of all the men and women of the earth.
However, in Your desire to call mankind to salvation, You have revealed
Yourself to all men and women in the person of Your beloved Son, Jesus of
Nazareth. The first vision pales in comparison to the second. The vision of
Christ Jesus is a revelation that lives in the heart of every believer, as Your
divine Son leads Your New Covenant children to eternal salvation just as Moses
prefigured our journey by leading the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. Guide us Lord, in our study of Moses' call to become the redeemer of Israel. Led by his example of faith and obedience, may each of us also answer the call to
serve You and Your Church. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit. Amen.

+ + +

From Jacob's stock
he produced a generous man who found favor in the eyes of all humanity, beloved
by God and people, Moses, of blessed memory. He made him the equal of the holy
ones in glory and made him strong, to the terror of his enemies. Sirach 45:1-2

The narrative in Exodus chapter two describes how baby Moses
was rescued by an Egyptian princess and was raised as her son. In the palace
of the Pharaoh of Egypt Moses received the best education the world had to
offer at that time in history. Reaching manhood, his education continued as he
came to understand the use and abuse of power in his adopted family's control
of the nation of Egypt and in the oppression of his kinsmen by birth, the
Israelites. After Moses escaped from Egypt, his forty year sojourn in Midian
provided another kind of education. In his transition from pampered prince to hard-working
shepherd he was exposed to a new kind of wisdom. In Egypt he was exposed to
worldly wisdom, but in the forty years Moses lived in Midian he received
spiritual knowledge. As a shepherd he learned to care for the weak of his
flock, to protect them from the dangers of the wild and to lead his flock with
confidence, finding them food, water, and shelter. And in his long hours of
solitude, Moses had the time to pray and meditate on the God of his fathers.
Both forms of wisdom "the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the spirit "would
become valuable resources in the mission that would consume the last forty
years of Moses' life.

Please read Exodus 2:23-25:2:23During this long period the king of Egypt died. The Israelites, groaning in their slavery, cried out for help and from the depths of their slavery their cry came up to God.
24God heard their groaning; God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
25God saw the Israelites and took note...

This is another transition passage. As in Exodus 1:8 a
pharaoh has died and a new pharaoh has taken his place. The pharaoh who sought
Moses' death was placed in his royal tomb and his successor sat on the Egyptian
throne. The death of Moses' enemy will make it possible for Moses to return to Egypt.

In Exodus chapters one and two God is mentioned eight times:
Ex 1:17, 20, 21; 2:23, 24 (twice), 25 (twice). The references are to God use the
word Elohim (in Hebrew the plural form of el, the word for "god").
It is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis chapter one:

Ex 1:17

But the midwives were God-fearing women and did
not obey the orders of the king of Egypt, but allowed the boys to live.

Ex 1:20

For this, God was good to the midwives, and the
people went on increasing and growing more powerful

Ex 1:21

And since the midwives feared God, he gave them
families of their own.

Ex 2:23

During this long period the king of Egypt died. The Israelites, groaning in their slavery, cried out for help and from the
depths of their slavery their cry came up to God.

Ex 2:24

God heard their groaning; God remembered
his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Ex 2: 25

God saw the Israelites and [God]
took note...

[] = Hebrew text (Interlineal Bible: Hebrew-English,
vol. I, page

The seven/eight word patterns present in the accounts of
Moses' childhood, adulthood in Egypt and in his escape to Midian and the
numerous examples of biblical irony are meant to remind the reader that God was
not absent but that He was present and active in the events recorded in the
first two chapters. But now in Exodus chapter three, God's intervention in the
history of Israel will take a much more dramatic and a more divine "hands on" approach.
Like the change in the Hebrew for "God" in Genesis chapter one to Genesis
chapter two, signifying the shift in God's relationship with man from Creator
to Divine Father "from "Elohim" to "Yahweh-Elohim," we will now see the same
shift in Exodus chapter three in the use of the Divine Covenant Name "YHWH" (Yahweh),
used seven times (see Ex 3:2, 4, 7, 15, 16, and 18 (twice), even though the
Divine Name is not spoken by God to Moses until the encounter with the "burning
bush" in verses 13-15. In most Bible translations the Divine Name is rendered
LORD (all capitals).

Question: What is meant when the biblical text
reads: God heard their groaning; God remembered his covenant with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. God saw the Israelites and [God] took note... Had God
forgotten His covenant promises to Abraham? See Genesis 15:13-15; 17:7-8;
26:3-4; 28:13-14.

Answer: God had not forgotten. God promised the Patriarchs
He would not forget: And I shall maintain my covenant between myself and
you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, as a covenant
in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you (Gen
17:7). According to God's prophecy to Abraham, the time for Israel's redemption would not come until the forth generation after the children of Israel entered Egypt, when the "iniquity of the Amorites had reached its height."

"God remembered" the children of Israel in the same way He
"remembered Noah and his family in the midst of the Great Flood in Genesis 8:1,
when He began to fulfill the covenant promise He made to Noah before the flood
event (Gen 6:18-20). The words "God remembered" indicate that it was now time
to fulfill the covenant promise made to the Patriarchs that the children of Israel would be redeemed and given a land of their own. The emphasis on God "remembering"
His covenant promises is a reminder to all generations of His people that He is
faithful and that He will do what He promises. In the last lines of the book
of the Prophet Micah, the prophet petitions God to remember that the salvation
of Israel is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and the foundation of
hope as well as the focus of faith for the covenant people of God: Once more
have pity on us, tread down our faults; throw all our sins to the bottom of the
sea. Grant Jacob your faithfulness, and Abraham your faithful love, as you
swore to our ancestors from the days of long ago (Micah 7:19-20).

Please read Exodus 3:1-6: The Theophany of the Burning Bush3:1Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God [Elohim].
2The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush [sene].
3Moses looked; there was the bush [sene] blazing, but the bush [sene] was not being burnt up. Moses said, I must go across and see this strange sight, and why the bush [sene] is not being burnt up.'
4When Yahweh saw him going across to look, God [Elohim] called to him from the middle of the bush [sene]. Moses, Moses!' he said. Here I am,' he answered.
5 Come no nearer,' he said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
6I am the God [Elohim] of your ancestors,' he said, the God [Elohim] of Abraham, the God [Elohim] of Isaac and the God [Elohim] of Jacob.' At this Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God [Elohim].

[..] = literal Hebrew (The Interlinear Bible, vol. I, page 145).

Note: the exact translation of the Hebrew word sene
is uncertain. It may be translated as "bush" or "tree" (Leveson, Sinai and
Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible, page 20). The word
translated as "angel" in this passage is the Hebrew word malak, which
means "messenger." Our word "angel" comes from the Greek word for "messenger,"
which is angelos (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, page 521).

Egypt controlled the Sinai Peninsula for most of its history;
therefore, the "far side of the desert" in Midianite territory cannot mean the
Sinai but must refer to the far western part of Arabia near the Gulf of Aqaba.

In the past two chapters, with the exception of the 7/8
repetition which suggests that God was always active in the history of Israel and Moses, God seemed distant. Now, just as God directly intervened in salvation to
call Abraham, God again takes the initiative in calling Moses to be His
messenger and to cooperate with God in saving the children of Israel (CCC 2575). For many Christians and Jews, no other scene in salvation history is so
dramatically remembered as God calling Moses from the burning bush that was miraculously
not consumed by the fire. In Exodus 3:4-4:17 God not only called Moses to
service as His prophet to Israel, but made Moses His confidant in the ultimate
goals of His plan. This will be the first of many personal exchanges between
Yahweh and His prophet, Moses: Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend (Ex 33:11).

Exodus 3:1-2:3:1Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God [Elohim].
2The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame blazing from the middle of a bush [sene].

Mt. Horeb is also called Mt. Sinai (31 times in the Pentateuch,
beginning in Ex 16:1). It is possible that Mt. Horeb was the Midianite name of
the mountain where Moses saw the burning bush, but perhaps the name of the holy
mountain became known to the Israelites as "Sinai" after the theophany of the
burning "bush," or "tree," which in Hebrew is rendered sene. The
burning tree will become an emblem of the manifestation of Yahweh's spirit
indwelling the desert Tabernacle and later in the Jerusalem Temple. Dr. Jon Levenson writes: ...the closeness in sound of sene ("bush") and Sinay
("Sinai") cannot be coincidental. [...]. The conjunction in Exodus 3 of bush
or tree (we do not know the precise meaning of sene) and fire is not surprising
in light of later YHWHistic tradition. "YHWH your God," thunders a Deuteronomistic
homilist, "is a devouring fire, a jealous God" (Deut 4:24)*. In the encounter
of Moses and the burning bush, two of YHWH's emblems "tree and fire "clash and
neither overpowers the other. The two will appear again in tandem in the
menorah, the Tabernacle candelabrum which is actually a stylized tree, complete
with "branches," "almond flowers," "calyces," and "petals" (Exodus 25:31-35) (Leveson,
Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible, pages 20-21).

Note: For a New Testament reference to fire as a metaphor
for God, see Hebrews 12:28-29: Let us therefore be grateful and use our
gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases him, in reverence and fear.
For our God is a consuming fire.

Question: In the Book of Genesis how did God manifest
His visible presence to Abraham in the ratification covenant ritual in Genesis
chapter 15?

Answer: God manifested his visible presence in the
form of fire. In the covenant ratification ceremony in Genesis 15:17 God
walked between the bodies of the sacrificed animals in the form of a flaming
torch and a burning brazier.

Question: In Moses' first supernatural encounter with
the God, what are the three parts of the manifestation of the Divine?

Answer:

The angel of Yahweh

The voice of the God of the patriarchs

The unquenchable fire that does not burn up the bush/tree

This is the first time God's holy covenant name is used in
the Book of Exodus. It is the angel of "Yahweh" who is described as appearing
to Moses in the flames (verse 2), but in verse 6 the voice Moses hears from
within the burning bush identifies Himself as the voice of the God of the
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Fathers of the Church, like St.
Augustine, believed the angel of Yahweh was a manifestation of the
pre-Incarnate Christ who was active in the plan of salvation before He became
God enfleshed and that the Most Holy Trinity was present in the manifestation
with God the Son present as the angel of Yahweh, the voice from the bush
identified as the God of the Patriarchs being God the Father, and the fire that
did not consume the bush, God the Holy Spirit.

Comments of the Fathers of the Church on the theophany of
the burning bush:

And here he is first called the angel of the Lord and
then God. Is the angel then the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob? Therefore he may be rightly understood to be the Savior
himself of whom the apostle says, "Whose are the fathers, and from whom is
Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed forever."[...]. For we cannot say that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob is the Son of God and not the Father. Nor will anyone
dare to deny that either the Holy Spirit or the Trinity itself, which we
believe and understand to be the one God, is the God of Abraham the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob (St. Augustine, On The Trinity 2.13.23, quoting
Rom 9:5).

In the flame is recognized the Holy Ghost... (St.
Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 96.1).

Was the Lord speaking through an angel? Or was the
Lord that angel who has been called the "angel of great counsel" and is
understood to be Christ? For Scripture said above, "the angel of the Lord
appeared to him" (St. Augustine, Questions on Exodus 3 quoting
from Is 9:6 and Ex 3:2).

The three elements of God's manifestation in the burning
bush linked to the Most Holy Trinity:

Some Church Fathers also identified the burning bush/tree as
a thorn bush "a reminder of the sin of Adam and the curse in Genesis 3:18, as
well as an illusion to Jesus' victory over the curse by wearing the symbol of
that judgment in the crown of thorns that He wore to His crucifixion in Matthew
27:29 (St. Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Educator 2.8.75).

In the burning bush theophany God called Moses to liberate
his people in a dialogue that can be separated into five parts:

God called Moses by name from within the fire of the
burning bush, revealing Himself to be the God of the patriarchs (Ex
3:4-6).

God told Moses He had heard his people's cries for help
and that He intended, using Moses as His agent, to rescue the Israelites
from the Egyptians, to lead them to this same mountain, and to give them a
land of their own homeland (Ex 3:7-12).

God gave Moses instructions on how to approach the
Israelites to inform them that he was acting as Yahweh's agent and
revealed His plan for convincing the Egyptians to release Israel (Ex
3:13-22).

God gave Moses the signs to convince the Israelites and
the Pharaoh that God was with Moses and the Egyptians must release the
Israelites (Ex 4:2-9).

Please notice that interspersed among God's five part
dialogue, Moses will make four objections concerning his call and his mission.

Exodus 3:4b-6:3:4b Moses, Moses!' he said. Here I am,' he answered.
5 Come no nearer,' he said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
6I am the God of your ancestors,' he said, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Calling
to Moses from the burning bush God warned Moses to take off his sandals and not
to come near. These instructions are similar to the instructions that the
captain of the army of Yahweh will give Joshua forty years later as Joshua
stood near the walls of Jericho when Joshua was told: Take your sandals off your
feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.' And Joshua did so (Josh
5:15).

The Fathers of the Church saw Moses' sandals, probably made
of dead animal skins, as a symbol of the perishable works of the earth. St.
Ambrose wrote: Pass by like Moses, that you may see the God of Abraham and
of Isaac and of Jacob and that you may see a great vision. This is a great
vision, but if you wish to see it, remove the sandals from your feet, remove
every bond of iniquity, remove the bonds of the world, leave behind the sandals
which are earthly (St. Ambrose, Flight From the World 5.25).

St. Ambrose also made the comparison between Moses being
ordered to remove his sandals and Jesus' command to His Apostles to go and
spread the Gospel of salvation without taking any earthly possessions with
them, not even their sandals, in Mark 6:8-9: Likewise Jesus sent the
apostles without sandals, without money, gold and silver, so that they would
not carry earthly things with them. For the man who seeks the good is praised
not for his sandals but for the swiftness and grace of his feet, as Scripture
says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, of
those who bring glad tidings of good things!"Therefore remove the
sandals from your feet, that they may be beautiful for preaching the gospel (St. Ambrose, Flight From the World 5.25; quoting Rom 10:15).

It became a custom of the covenant people, when crossing
over from pagan territory back into the land of Israel, to remove their sandals
and to shake the dust of pagan lands off their feet before treading on the holy
ground of the Promised Land. Observation of this custom may be why Jesus told
His disciples to "shake the dust off their feet" and move on when the Gospel of
salvation they preached was rejected. Those who accepted God's gift of salvation
through Jesus Christ were then standing on "holy ground" while those who
rejected God's gift remained on unholy ground (Mt 10:14; Mk 6:11; Lk 9:5; New
Jerusalem Bible, page 1625, note e).

Question: Why was it dangerous for Moses or any man
to come too near to God? When did it become possible for man to cross that
holy threshold into God's presence? See Exodus 33:20 and Hebrews 1:3; 2:13;
and CCC 2777.

Answer: Only Jesus Christ could step across that holy
threshold. Jesus of Nazareth, the man who is God enfleshed, did not warn men
and woman to keep their distance, instead He urged them to come closer, even
offering the wounds in His hands for St. Thomas to feel His torn flesh and
believe. Through His perfect sacrifice, death and resurrection He had the
power to bring redeemed mankind into the Father's presence, saying: "Here am I
and the children God has given me" (Heb 2:13).

At this Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look
at God. Recognizing that he was in the presence of a deity, who identified
himself as the God of his forefathers, Moses covered his face in reverence and
in fear.

Please read Exodus 3:7-15: The Call of Moses and the
Divine Name Revealed3:7Yahweh then said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings.
8And I have come down to rescue them from the clutches of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that country, to a country rich and broad, to a country flowing with milk and honey, to the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
9Yes indeed, the Israelites' cry for help has reached me, and I have also seen the cruel way in which the Egyptians are oppressing them.
10So now I am sending you to Pharaoh, for you to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.'
11Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'
12 I shall be with you,' God said, and this is the sign by which you will know that I was the one who sent you. After you have led the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'
13Moses then said to God, Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is his name?" what am I to tell them?'
14God said to Moses, I am he who is.' And he said, This is what you are to say to the Israelites, "I AM has sent me to you."'
15God further said to Moses, You are to tell the Israelites, "Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come.

Question: What three assurances did God give Moses?Answer:

God assured Moses that He knew of the suffering of the
Israelites at the hands of the Egyptians.

He heard their prayers.

It was God's intention to become personally involved in
the redemption of Israel and the restoration of Israel to the land
promised to Abraham by sending Moses as His agent of liberation.

Exodus 3:8-9: 8And I have come down to rescue them from the clutches of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that country, to a country rich and broad, to a country flowing with milk and honey, to the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
9Yes indeed, the Israelites' cry for help has reached me, and I have also seen the cruel way in which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

God assured Moses that He was well aware of the suffering of
the Israelites and it was now time for God Himself ("I have come down to rescue
them") to orchestrate their liberation.

Question: In this passage how many peoples did God
mention and what is the significance of the last ethnic group mentioned? What
do the numbers of peoples symbolize?

Answer: God spoke of six different inhabitants of Canaan, and then the last group of people He mentioned, who are the 7th group of
people, are the Israelites. Six is the number symbolizing man and his
rebellion, while the number seven symbolizes fullness, perfection, and the
number of covenant. The six nationalities of people who inhabited Canaan are people who have rebelled against God; therefore, He will dispossess them of the
land and will give the land to the people who are in covenant with Him.

Exodus 3:10: 10So now I am sending you to Pharaoh, for you to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.'

Question: Why is God sending Moses to Pharaoh and
what does Moses' mission have in common with Joseph's mission in Genesis
chapters 37-50?

Answer: Because God has heard the prayers of the
Israelites, and because the time has come for their liberation, God will redeem
His people by sending Moses as His agent to lead Israel out of Egypt (Ex 3:10),
just as He sent Joseph as His agent to lead Israel into Egypt (Gen 45:5).

Exodus 3:11: 11Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'
Moses fully realized the momentous task God was assigning to
him. His question to God reflects back to the question that was put to him
forty years earlier.

Question: What question was Moses asked forty years
earlier that he couldn't answer?

Answer: Moses' question recalls the question the
Hebrew slave asked Moses in Exodus 2:14: "And who appointed you to be prince
over us and judge?" Moses finally has his answer to that question.

Moses' question in Exodus 3:11 is the first of four
objections Moses will make concerning the mission God has given him.

Question: What are Moses' four objections and what
are God's four responses? Do you think Moses' hesitation is an indication of
disobedience or something else? See Exodus 3:4-4:17 and Numbers 12:3.

Answer: Moses' Objections:

"Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of
Egypt?" (Ex 3:11)

"Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God
of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they say to me, What is his
name?' what am I to tell them?" (Ex 3:13)

"But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my
words, and say to me, Yahweh has not appeared to you'?" (Ex 4:1)

"Please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, even since
you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow and hesitant of speech."
(Ex 4:10)

In response to each of Moses' objections, God graciously
gave Moses the gifts he needed to complete his mission:

Moses' objections probably do not suggest an unwillingness
to be obedient to God's will for his life but rather his objections probably
reflect his humility at being chosen to be an agent of God as well as an
understanding of the difficulty of the mission and a lack of confidence in his
own abilities. God will later describe Moses as the "meekest" of men (Num
12:3).

Exodus 3:12:12 I shall be with you,' God said, and this is the sign by which you will know that I was the one who sent you. After you have led the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.'

Question: Why will worshipping on the mountain be a
"sign" for Moses' people and when do they experience that "sign"?

Answer: The sign will be the ratification of the
Sinai Covenant. The promise of this sign will require the faith of Moses and
his people because it will not be revealed until Exodus chapter 19, 50 days after
crossing the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea). Calling His people out of the world of
nations into a covenant that is expressed in worship and fellowship with Yahweh
is the whole purpose of the Exodus experience, and it is therefore, the primary
"sign" of faith for the people.

Mt. Horeb/Sinai was not the first holy mountain of God, nor would it be the last.

Question: What was the first holy mountain that
figured prominently in salvation history? See the chart "Holy Mountains of God" in Lesson 3 (handout #4) of the Genesis study, Genesis 2:10 and Ezekiel 28:12-16.

Answer: Eden, the mountain that was home to the first
earthly Sanctuary of God, was the first holy mountain of God. From the time of
Eden, mountains were associated with God's dealings with mankind: Eden, Ararat, Sinai, Mt. Moriah, Mt. Carmel, the Mt. of Temptations, the Mt. of Beatitudes, the Mt. of Transfiguration, Golgotha, and the Mt. of Olives.

Exodus 3:13-15: 13Moses then said to God, Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is his name?" what am I to tell them?'
14God said to Moses, I am he who is.' And he said, This is what you are to say to the Israelites, "I AM has sent me to you."'
15God further said to Moses, You are to tell the Israelites, "Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come.
Note: ancient Hebrew was written only in consonants;
hence the four consonants YHWH, which scholars believe would have been
pronounced "Yah-way," is what was written in the most ancient text of this
passage. The so-called "four letter word," known as the Tetragrammaton, is
believed by scholars to be the third person masculine singular form of the
ancient Hebrew verb hwh, the verb "to be" (Propp, Exodus, page
192-193; Davis, Studies in Exodus, pages 72-73; Navarre, Pentateuch, pages 258-259.

Moses' next objection reflects his careful discernment
concerning the deity that was addressing him. Moses had been exposed to the
various gods of Egypt and had seen their priests perform "signs" and "wonders"
offered as proof of the deity's power (see Ex 7:11). The priests of other Near
Eastern deities also had wonders to offer to display the power of their gods
(Dan 14:1-27). What proof did Moses have to present to the Israelites that it
really was the God of the patriarchs who revealed Himself and gave Moses the
authority to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses offers the deity who has
addressed him a test of His true identity: could He give a name by which the
Israelites knew Him? If the deity gave a name known to the patriarchs the
deity is legitimate. If it is a name Moses did not know, then this entity
cannot be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Answer: Among other names/titles they knew Him by the
names/titles Yahweh, God Most High (El Elyon), and El Shaddai (God Almighty?).
"Yahweh" was the first name of God revealed to Abraham and the first name by
which Abraham addressed God: I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to give you this country as your possession.' Lord Yahweh,' Abram
replied, how can I know that I shall possess it?' (Gen 15:7-8).

Some of the passages where the names of God were revealed to
the patriarchs in Genesis:

Sometime later, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a
vision: Do not be afraid, Abram! I am your shield and shall give you a very
great reward. Lord Yahweh,' Abram replied, what use are your gifts, as I
am going on my way childless?

Biblical scholar, Dr. John Salihamer, writes: We are
helped in our understanding of this verse by the fact that in the book of
Genesis, the patriarchs use the name "Yahweh" (Ge 15:2, 7), though note that
when God "appeared" to the patriarchs (e.g., Ge 17:3), he was known as "El
Shaddai." The narrative is also clear, however, that when Abraham saw God "in
a vision," he spoke with him as "Yahweh" Ge 15:1-2). Thus Exodus 6:3 ""I
appeared to Abraham...as El Shaddai" and not as Yahweh "reflects accurately the
wording of the Genesis narratives. In Genesis, when God "appeared" to Abraham,
he addressed him as El Shaddai, but when Abraham saw God in a vision," he spoke
with him as Yahweh (The Pentateuch as Narrative, pages 250-251).

The four Hebrew consonants YHWH are presented in
Scripture as God's holy covenant name. God significantly tells Moses: This
is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to
come (Ex 3:15b). Of all the names for God in Scripture it is this
form of His name that is the most frequently used in the Bible (about 6,800
times; Elohim is used about 2,600 times). These four Hebrew characters,
YHWH = yad, hay, vav ("v" in Hebrew can also be rendered "w" in
English), and hay is known as the "Tetragrammaton" or "tetragram", meaning
"the four letter word." Biblical scholars do not know how YHWH was
originally pronounced; "Yah-way" is the best scholarly guess. Throughout
history God's Old Covenant people treated God's name with great reverence, declaring
it too holy to be spoken aloud (despite God's command in Ex 3:15). Speaking
God's covenant name was restricted to the priests worshipping in God's Temple
in Jerusalem who pronounced His holy name over the people in the final
benediction of the daily services, and so with the destruction of the Temple by
the Romans in 70 AD, God's holy covenant name was no longer spoken and the
correct pronunciation of the name was lost.

The rendering of YHWH as "Yahweh" is a modern
conjecture (first suggested in the 16th century by biblical scholar
Gilbert Genebrard, professor of Hebrew at the College Royal in Paris) but which has been accepted by biblical scholars today as the most likely
rendering. You will find this rendering in the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible
translation. In other translations, following what became the Jewish custom,
YHWH is rendered as LORD (for example in the Catholic Revised Standard and New
American Bible translations as well as in most Protestant Bible translations).
This became a custom from the time of the 3rd century BC when the
ancient Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) into the
Greek translation known as the Septuagint. They replaced the Sacred Name YHWH
with "ho Kyrios" or "the Lord." In the modern Jewish Tanach YHWH is
rendered as Hashem (or ha-Shem, meaning in Hebrew, "the name") or as Adoshem,
which is a contraction of Adonai and ha-Shem.

But what does the Tetragrammaton, "YHWH," mean? Biblical
scholars have been arguing about the meaning of YHWH for centuries. Since
biblical names generally have a discernible meaning, scholars have believed
that YHWH can be reasonably translated. Based on etymology and context most
scholars have agreed that YHWH is an archaic form of the verb "to be" (hwh in
Hebrew, pronounced "hawah") and should be translated "I am who I am" or "I will
be who I will be," or for those scholars who believe the verb is in the
causative imperfect masculine singular form: "He causes to be; brings into
existence; He brings to pass, He creates" (Propp, Studies in Exodus, page
72-73). When God identified Himself as "Yahweh," Moses not only had proof of
God's identity as the God of his fathers by the holy covenant name known to the
patriarchs, but it was a name which revealed the true nature and essence of
God "the deity who has always existed, who will continue forever and who will be
with Moses and Israel in their struggles (see CCC 203-209).

Titles identify the power and authority of the person who
has the title, but in the Bible the name of an individual or a deity expressed
the true nature and essence of its bearer (see 1 Sam 25:25).(1) St. Peter's statement that those who desire
to accept God's gift of salvation must accept Jesus Christ as Savior "for there
is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts
4:12; quoted from CCC 432) didn't just mean salvation can be won by simply
saying Jesus' name, or expressing belief in His "name," but to claim His gift
of salvation in His "name" is to accept on faith everything He taught about Himself
and everything Sacred Scripture and the Church (Christ's vehicle of salvation) professes
to be true about Him, including His fully human and divine nature, His
resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the Father, and His power to save
all humanity from eternal death by giving them the gift of eternal life,
through His "name" (CCC 430-435, 452).

Applying the meaning of YHWH as "I am who I am" or "I will
be who I will be" contextually fits the passages in Exodus 3:13-15a: Moses
then said to God [Elohim], Look, if I go to the Israelites and say to me,
"What is his name?" what am I to tell them?' God [Elohim] said to Moses, I am
he who is.' And he said, This is what you are to tell the Israelites, "I AM
has sent me to you.' This rendering also agrees withExodus 3:6
where God said: I AM the God of your ancestors,' he said,the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' It agrees with Jesus' I
AM statements in the fourth Gospel: i.e. when He said: In all truth I tell
you, before Abraham ever was, I AM(John 8:58).
(2) It agrees with God's revelation of Himself to the Apostle John in the last Bible book, the book of Revelation:
John, to the seven churches of Asia: grace and peace to you from Him who is, who was, and who is to come... (Rev 1:4), and it agrees with the Greek Septuagint translation in Exodus chapter 3: ego e'imi
""I AM" (Davis, Studies in Exodus, page 73).

Jesus used the words "I AM" in the Gospel of St. John twenty-six
times. It is an interesting coincidence that God's holy covenant name,
expressed in Hebrew by the four consonants YHWH, has a gematria value of 10, 5,
6, and 5 (gematria is the value of each Hebrew letter that also served as a
number symbol). Added together the numerical total of these four Hebrew letters
is twenty-six. Jesus also identified Himself in St. John's Gospel using seven
"I AM" statements with a predicate nominative and four "I AM" statements
without a predicate nominative (see the www.AgapeBibleStudy.com Gospel of
St. John study: Chapter 8).

In any event, Moses must have recognized the name YHWH
because he did not object that the patriarchs knew their God by a different
name, and he appeared to be satisfied with God's answer.

Please read Exodus 3:16-22: Moses' Mission is Defined16 Go, gather the elders of Israel together and tell them, "Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has appeared to me "the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob "and has indeed visited you and seen what is being done to you in Egypt,
17 and has said : I shall bring you out of the misery of Egypt to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a country flowing with milk and honey."
18 They will listen to your words, and you and the elders of Israel are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, "Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has encountered us. So now please allow us to make a three-days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to Yahweh our God."
19 I am well aware that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is compelled by a mighty hand;
20 he will not let you go until I have stretched out my arm and struck Egypt with all the wonders I intend to work there.
21 I shall ensure that the Egyptians are so much impressed with this people that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.
22 Every woman will ask her neighbor and the woman staying in her house for silver and golden jewellery, and clothing. In these you will dress your own sons and daughters, despoiling the Egyptians of them.'

Exodus 3:16-17 is a repeat of 3:7-8. God told Moses to
gather the elders of the tribes because the elders were the governing body of
the tribes of Israel.

Question: Why did God tell Moses to first approach the
elders of the twelve tribes before going to the Pharaoh?

Answer: Moses had to gain the trust of the elders and
achieve national acceptance of his mission before he would present his demand
to the Pharaoh. The elders were to give Moses their support and go with him in
his audience with the Pharaoh.

Exodus 3:18:18 They will listen to your words, and you and the elders of Israel are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, "Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has encountered us. So now please allow us to make a three-days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to Yahweh our God."

Any mention of threes of anything has significance in
Scripture; especially "three days," which is a symbolic expression for divine
intervention and restoration after a time of trial, often expressed as "on the
third day" and at other times as "after three days." It was "on the third day"
that Abraham saw Mt. Moriah, the place where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac
(Gen 22:4). It was "on the third day" that the Pharaoh's cupbearer was
restored to his former position as Joseph had prophesized (Gen 40:12-23), and
Joseph put his brothers in prison "for three days" (Gen 42:17, but he released
them "on the third day" (Gen 42:18). Another reference to restoration on the
third day is found in Hosea 6:1-2 where Yahweh told His prophet a time will
come when His covenant people will acknowledge their sins and seek redemption
and restoration, as they cry out: Come, let us return to the LORD; for he
has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. After
two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that
we may live before him.

While the prophetic reference to "the third day" in Joseph's
prophecy in Genesis 40:12-23 may have been literal as well as symbolic, the
prophet Hosea promised a third day restoration that is understood to be
symbolic of God's plan of salvation and redemption. The Hosea passage was not
concerned with a literal three day period but with a short period of intense
trial followed by God's divine intervention to bring about the restoration of
God's people in God's own time. Jesus' reference to the three days and three
nights in Matthew 12:40 is a reference in biblical language to the promise of
divine intervention in God's plan of salvation, linking Jonah's mission to the
lost souls of Nineveh and Jesus' mission to the lost sheep of Israel.(3) God's instructions to Moses to tell
Pharaoh that the children of Israel desire to make a three-day's journey into
the wilderness to worship Yahweh may also be a symbolic "three days."

Exodus 3:19-22:19 I am well aware that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is compelled by a mighty hand;
20 he will not let you go until I have stretched out my arm and struck Egypt with all the wonders I intend to work there.
21 I shall ensure that the Egyptians are so much impressed with this people that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.
22 Every woman will ask her neighbor and the woman staying in her house for silver and golden jewellery, and clothing. In these you will dress your own sons and daughters, despoiling the Egyptians of them.'

It doesn't make any difference that the Israelites did not
intend to return to Egypt after three days since, as God told Moses, the
pharaoh will not let Israel go until God has stretched out my arm and struck
Egypt with all the wonders I intend to work there. Up to this point in
salvation history the patriarchs have believed by faith in the promises of the
God who called Abraham out of the pagan city of Ur. They have not witnessed
any great and terrible acts in their relationship with God as El Shaddai, but
now they will witness divine acts that will give them a greater revelation of
God as Yahweh.

Question: In these verses God laid out His plan for Israel's redemption along with what promise? How does this promise provide a link to
Genesis?

Answer: The promise that, like Abraham and Sarah, the
Israelites will leave Egypt with the wealth of the Egyptians. The "plunger"
they will take from the Egyptians will be just compensation for what was owed them
for their forced labor and will provide the provisions for their journey.
Yahweh's promise is a link back to Abram and Sarai's experience in Egypt, which prefigured the Exodus experience of their descendants (Gen 13:1-2; Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36).

Chapter 4

He sent his
servant Moses, and Aaron, the man of his choice. They worked there the wonders
he commanded, marvels in the country of Ham.Psalm 105:26-27

Please read Exodus 4:1-9: Moses' Hesitation and God's
Assurance4:1Moses replied as follows, But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my words, and say to me, "Yahweh has not appeared to you"?'
2Yahweh then said, What is that in your hand?' A staff,' he said.
3 Throw it on the ground,' said Yahweh. Moses threw it on the ground; the staff turned into a snake and Moses recoiled from it.
4Yahweh then said to Moses, Reach out your hand and catch it by the tail.' He reached out his hand, caught it, and in his hand it burned back into a staff.
5Thus they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.'
6Next, Yahweh said to him, Put your hand inside your tunic.' He put his hand inside his tunic, then drew it out again: and his hand was diseased, white as snow.
7Yahweh then said, Put your hand back inside your tunic.' He put his hand back inside his tunic and when he drew it out, there it was restored, just like the rest of his flesh.
8 Even so: should they not believe you nor be convinced by the first sign, the second sign will convince them;
9but should they not be convinced by either of these two signs and refuse to listen to what you say, you are to take some water from the River and pour it on the ground, and the water you have taken from the River will turn to blood on the dry land.'

Exodus 4:1: Moses
replied as follows, But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my
words, and say to me, "Yahweh has not appeared to you"?'

This is Moses' third objection. Notice that he does not say
"What if they don't recognize your name?"

Question: What three signs did God give Moses to
convince those who might refuse to believe he has been sent by Yahweh?

Answer:

The ability to turn his shepherd's staff into a snake.

Changing his healthy skin into skin diseased by leprosy
and back to healthy skin again.

The ability to turn the water in the Nile River into blood.

The promise of the third "sign" prefigures the first plague.

Question: What is curious about God's instructions
concerning the staff that became a snake that required an act of faith on
Moses' part?

Answer: God told Moses to grab the snake by the tail.
In capturing a snake that might be poisonous one does not grasp a snake by the
tail but by the head. Moses had to trust God that the snake would not bite him
but would become a staff again.

Please read Exodus 4:10-17: The Promise of Aaron's
Assistance4:10Moses said to Yahweh, Please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, even since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow and hesitant of speech.'
11Who gave a person a mouth?' Yahweh said to him. Who makes a person dumb or deaf, gives sight or makes blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?
12Now go, I shall help you speak and instruct you what to say.'
13 Please, my Lord,' Moses replied, send anyone you decide to send!'
14At this Yahweh's anger kindled against Moses, and he said to him, There is your brother Aaron the Levite, is there not? I know that he is a good speaker. Here he comes to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will be full of joy.
15You will speak to him and tell him what message to give. I shall help you speak, and him too, and instruct you what to do.
16He will speak to the people in your place; he will be your mouthpiece, and you will be as the god inspiring him.
17And take this staff in your hand; with this you will perform the signs.'

Exodus 4:10: Moses
said to Yahweh, Please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, even since you
have spoken to your servant, for I am slow and hesitant of speech.'

This is Moses' fourth objection, which he made in two parts
(Ex 4:10 and 13). Up to this point God has been patient with Moses'
objections, but in verses 11- 12 God admonishes him, reminding Moses that He
has the power to make a person eloquent or deaf, dumb, and blind. Moses made
the same objection again (verse 13) concerning his lack of ability as a speaker,
instead of asking God for a healing (if he had a speech impediment or for
eloquence if that was the issue). Moses' fourth objection appears to be based
on a lack of faith, and God became angry with Moses.

Question: Despite the fact that Moses' fear of
speaking publically was something God could overcome, why did God relent and
provide a spokesman for Moses in his brother Aaron?

Answer: God respected Moses' fear of speaking
publically and provided an alternative until Moses' had the confidence to speak
publically on his own. God understands our limitations and if we are faithful,
He will work with us to overcome them.

Question: What did Moses' objections reveal about
Moses' character and his selection as God's agent of salvation? Why did Moses
finally agree to take on the mission?

Answer: Moses' objections reveal that Moses did not
respond to God's call out of a desire for power and glory. Moses yielded
himself in obedience to God and accepted the mission to liberate Israel strictly out of humble submission to a divine call.

Please read Exodus 4:18-26: Moses' Return to Egypt4:18Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, Give me leave to return to my kinsmen in Egypt and see if they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.'
19Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, Go, return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.'
20So Moses took his wife and his son and, putting them on a donkey, started back for Egypt and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
21Yahweh said to Moses, Think of the wonders I have given you power to perform, once you are back in Egypt! You are to perform them before Pharaoh, but I myself shall make him obstinate, and he will not let the people go.
22You will then say to Pharaoh, "This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my first-born son.
23I told you: Let my son go and worship me; but since you refuse to let him go, well then! I shall put your first-born son to death."
24On the journey, when he had halted for the night, Yahweh encountered him and tried to kill him.
25Then Zipporah, taking up a flint, cut off her son's foreskin and with it touched his feet and said, You are my blood-bridegroom!'
26So he let him go. She said, Blood-bridegroom' then, with reference to the circumcision.

Notice the change in the name of Moses' father-in-law from
"Reuel" to "Jethro." Like Jacob, Moses requested his father-in-law's
permission to take his family and return to his own people (Gen 30:25-26). Unlike
Laban, Jethro immediately gave his permission and his blessing of peace. As
Moses set out on his journey, Yahweh gave Moses the assurance that those who
wanted to kill him were dead. A new pharaoh sat on the Egyptian throne.

Exodus 4:21:Yahweh
said to Moses, Think of the wonders I have given you power to perform, once
you are back in Egypt! You are to perform them before Pharaoh, but I myself
shall make him obstinate, and he will not let the people go.

Once again God reassured Moses of the powers he had been
given to perform acts if wonder in Egypt. However, God's reassurance is
followed by the warning that Pharaoh's heart will be hardened against Moses and
against Israel.

Answer: This is a difficult question. There are
parts of the narrative that clearly reveal that Pharaoh hardened his own heart,
while other passages state that it was God who hardened Pharaoh's heart. Since
Sacred Scripture and Tradition have always upheld God's respect for man's
exercise of the gift of "free will," it is unlikely that God in any way forced
the Pharaoh to harden his heart when he might otherwise have felt compassion. God's
impact upon the Pharaoh was rather a judgment of the condition of hardness of
heart that was the Pharaoh's free-will choice, since to do otherwise would be
contrary to God's desire that all men should repent and come to salvation (Ex
33:1; 1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pt 3:9). However, God used the hardening of this man's
heart to further His plan of salvation "taking an evil intention and turning it
to the good. God places both the righteous and the wicked upon the stage of
salvation history to further His divine plan for man's salvation. In this part
of God's plan, the hardening of the Pharaoh's heart was to make Himself known
to the Egyptians and to show them that Yahweh was God (Ex 7:3-5).

Exodus 4:22:You
will then say to Pharaoh, "This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my first-born
son."

In ancient Near Eastern cultures the "firstborn" was the
designated heir who became the father's representative, exercising the
authority of the father over his brothers and sisters (Davis, Studies in
Exodus, page 79).

Question: If Israel is God's "first-born" son, what
are the other nations of the earth?

Answer: It follows that they are younger sons.

Question: The status of "first-born" son gave Israel the
privilege of God the Father's authority over the other nations of the earth, but what
then would have been Israel's obligation as a "first-born" son and elder
brother to the other nations of the earth?

Answer: To be a role model of holiness and a righteous
teacher to the other "younger brother" nations.

Question: What was Israel expected to teach her
sibling nations?

Answer: Israel was to teach them about the One True
God, the meaning of liturgical sacrifice and worship, and about the promises of
salvation through the Redeemer-Messiah who would one day come to liberate
mankind from the curse of Adam.

The identification of Israel as God the Father's "firstborn"
son is a key in understanding the allegorical meaning of Jesus' parable of the
Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. In Jesus' telling of the parable His message to
the Jews was that as the "firstborn" son they must welcome back their "younger
brothers" (the Gentile nations) into a covenant family relationship with God as
Father. The recognition of the Gentiles as full members of the covenant family
was one of the most serious stumbling blocks for the Jews in accepting the
revelation of Jesus' New Covenant.

Exodus 4:23: I
told you: "Let my son go and worship me; but since you refuse to let him go,
well then! I shall put your first-born son to death."

Question: What does God's warning to Pharaoh
prefigure? See Exodus 12:29.

Answer: The death of the Pharaoh's firstborn son on
the night of the 10th plague.

Exodus 4:24-26:4:24On the journey, when he had halted for the night, Yahweh encountered him and tried to kill him.
25Then Zipporah, taking up a flint, cut off her son's foreskin and with it touched his feet and said, You are my blood-bridegroom!'
26So he let him go. She said, Blood-bridegroom' then, with reference to the circumcision.

This is one of the most bizarre and mystical episodes in
sacred Scripture. Part of what makes this passage so bizarre is that so little
information is provided "there is no background information to go with the
event. Moses' wife, Zipporah, curbs Yahweh's wrath and saves her husband's
life by using a flint knife to circumcise their son and then touches Moses' "feet"
[in Hebrew regalim, a euphemism for the genitals] with the foreskin of
their child. Zipporah then voices her objection in being forced to perform the
circumcision by declaring, "Truly you are a bridegroom of blood
[hatan-damim] to me!", to which the narrative adds as clarification: "A
bridegroom of blood because of circumcision [hatan damim lammulot]."

Arabic is the modern Semitic language that is related to
both Aramaic, the common language spoken during the time of Christ, and biblical
Hebrew. In Arabic hatan means "to circumcise," as it does Hebrew. It
is interesting that in Arabic the words for "bridegroom," "son-in-law", and
"father-in-law" are all derivatives of the Hebrew root htn "the ancient
Hebrew word for "circumcise." A son-in-law/bridegroom is "the circumcised one"
and the father-in-law, "the circumciser."(4)
Zipporah understood the context of circumcision for her Midianite people as a prelude
to matrimony and not as a covenantal sign. (5)
But for the Israelites circumcision was an ot ("ot" in Hebrew is an act/sign
that had prophetic significance). For the Israelites circumcision held a
uniquely religious meaning. It was the sign/act, or "ot," of Israel submitting in obedience to a covenant relationship with Yahweh as Israel's one true God. It
was a rite established in the time of Abraham: Every male among you shall be
circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin (besar orlatkem=
the foreskin of your penis) and it shall be a sign ( ot) of the covenant
(berit) between me and you (Gen 17:10-11). To save her husband's life Zipporah
was forced to circumcise her son (evidently she was the parent who resisted
administering the rite on her son when he was an infant). After performing the
cutting of her son's foreskin, she said to Moses that he was now a "bridegroom
of blood" "the word "bridegroom being one of the words that is a derivative of
the Hebrew root for "circumcise." Against her will, she has submitted her son
to the Israelite rite of covenant rebirth, a rite that according to her culture
should have been preformed when he was prepared to take a wife. It is ironic
that Moses appeared to be more afraid of Zipporah than God in his failure to
circumcise his son.

Answer: This was not a rite to be observed
arbitrarily. It was a covenant sign in the same way that the rainbow was a
covenant sign for Noah. It was essential that the Israelites obey this ritual
of covenant obedience, covenant initiation, and covenant continuation. Moses
could not be the leader of Israel without observing this basic covenant
obligation in his own family. Zipporah, who was probably the parent who
resisted observing the rite of circumcision for her son when he was an infant,
had to be convinced of the seriousness of obedience in this matter, hence the
threat to Moses' life.

Moses was called to serve Yahweh but Zipporah was not
called. One partner's lack of commitment to a spouse's call to service continues
to present problems in Christian ministry today. After this dramatic episode,
a pregnant Zipporah evidently returned to her father with their son, and Moses
continued on his journey to Egypt alone (Ex 17:5).

Please read Exodus 4:27-31: The Reunion of Moses and
Aaron4:27Yahweh said to Aaron, Go into the desert to meet Moses.' So he went, and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
28Moses then told Aaron all that Yahweh had said when sending him all the signs he had ordered him to perform.
29Moses and Aaron then went and gathered all the elders of the Israelites together,
30and Aaron repeated everything that Yahweh had said to Moses, and in the sight of the people performed the signs.
31The people were convinced, and they rejoiced that Yahweh had visited the Israelites and seen their misery, and they bowed to the ground in worship.

Question: What was Aaron's response to God's
selection of Moses as Israel's redeemer?

Question: Aaron also received a divine call from
Yahweh. What did God tell Aaron to do?

Answer: He was to rendezvous with Moses at Mt. Horeb/Sinai.

Question: What was the next part of the plan and why
was Aaron's participation important?

Answer: Moses had to gain the cooperation of the leaders
of the twelve tribes. Aaron was known and respected by the Israelites where
Moses was relatively unknown and his Egyptian upbringing might have made his
motives questionable to many of the leaders. Aaron was able to give Moses an
introduction to the leadership, the testimony supporting the credibility of
Moses' call by Yahweh, and to generate the good will and the cooperation he
needed to fulfill his mission.

Questions for group discussion:

Question: Circumcision of infant males on the eighth
day after birth was a sign of the continuation of the bond of the Abrahamic
covenant (Gen 17:9-12) and later the Sinai Covenant (Lev 12:3) into the next
generation. So important was this sign of covenant obedience that God would
not permit Moses to be his agent of salvation to Israel unless his own son was
circumcised. Do the New Covenant people of God have a similar rite of covenant
obedience and continuation in the entrance of new members into the covenant
family?

Answer: God will save who He will save, but baptism
is the Sacrament He has established for the re-birth of children into His
covenant family, and He expects the same obedience and submission that He
required of Old Covenant believers in the covenantal sign of circumcision "an
outward sign that signified an internal condition "covenantal union with God through
a circumcised heart. Jesus' instructions to the Apostles after His
Resurrection were: Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptize
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... (Mt
28:19). St. Peter's instruction to the Jews who asked how they could be saved
after his homily on Pentecost Sunday was: You must repent,' Peter answered,
and every one of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' (Acts
2:38). Baptism detaches the life of a child of Adam from the world of sin and
attaches that life to Christ. All Jesus' works of salvation, which proceeded
from the Father's love, reaches it completion in the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit in Christian Baptism, when the former child of Adam becomes a re-born
child in the family of God.

Question: Who can baptize? See CCC 1256

Answer: So important does the Church view the
necessity of Baptism for salvation that when the ordinary ministers of Baptism
are absent (the bishop, priests, and deacons) anyone, even a non-baptized
person, can baptize in an emergency by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula
with the intention to do what the Church does when she baptizes. This
extraordinary freedom in offering baptism is based on the Church's recognition
of God's desire that all should come to salvation (see 1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Pt 3:9).

2. The Biblical reference to God as Yehova (Jehova), spelled
out with Hebrew characters first appeared in the Middle Ages (c. 800AD).
At that time Jewish scholars called the Masorites translated the Greek
translation of the (Old Testament) Bible back into Hebrew and added vowel
points to the Hebrew language (which had originally been written only with
consonants). Since that time, Hebrew Bible manuscripts have inserted the
vowels from Adonai within the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, as a reminder that
readers should say "Adonai" instead of the sacred name which Jews believed
must not be spoken to avoid abuse of the commandment against misuse of the
Lord's name. The pronunciation of "Jehovah" ("J" is the German "Y") was
unknown until 1520 AD, when a biblical scholar named Galatians introduced
it. This pronunciation was contested by other scholars as being against
grammatical and historical propriety. However, when Protestant scholars
began their vernacular translations (into their common languages) of the
Old Testament using the Jewish Masoretic translations, they also mixed the
four consonants of YHWH (JHWH in German) with the vowels of Adonai in the
mistaken belief that this was the correct pronunciation of the Sacred Name
and from then on YHWH appeared in Protestant Biblical texts as "Jehovah."
This rendering is most frequently used in the King James Version
translations as in: Let them be put to shame, and perish: That men may
know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all
the earth (Psalm 83:18). Modern scholars do not recognize this form
as a legitimate name for the Hebrew God and dismiss it as a misreading or
mispronunciation.

3. St. Paul wrote about the significant "third day" event
of the Resurrection in 1 Cor 15:3-8, and the witnesses who testified to
it. Paul wrote that the timing of the resurrection event was not
according to man's time but "according to the Scriptures": For I
delivered to you as of first importance which I also received, that Christ
died for our sins and in accordance with the scriptures, that he
was buried, then he was raised on the third dayin accordance
with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he
appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one
untimely born, he appeared also to me. When Paul wrote that the
"timing" of the event of the Resurrection was "in accordance with the
Scriptures," it is the Old Testament Scriptures to which he is referring.
St. Paul also made the symbolic "third day" reference in the language of
the Scriptures, linking it to God's intervention at the climatic moment of
man's promised restoration of fellowship with God as promised to the
Prophet Hosea in Hos 6:1-2. It is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ which
occurred, as Paul wrote, "on the third day," an event which occurred
literally but at the same time was full of symbolic significance, and
through which all who believe will also be raised up to eternal life.